- Shares of Hyundai (OTCPK:HYMLF, OTCPK:HYMTF) fell as much as 10% overseas on news the Hyundai/Kia consortium won a ferocious bidding war for a $10B trophy HQ in Seoul’s upmarket Gangnam district.
- Hyundai paid three times the appraised value for the 79K sqm plot; it plans to relocate the group’s headquarters there, and plans to build a hotel and a car theme park.
- Analyst Ko Tae-bong summed up investor sentiment: "The bid price is excessive, which is incomprehensible to investors. Investors had expected Hyundai to use most of its surplus cash for constructive things such as raising dividends or R&D spending. But they are angry to see the group burn cash like this to buy a single property." (FT)
- Kia Motors (OTCPK:KIMTF) was down 8% on the news.